Hand-held printing device and method for tuning ink jet color for printing on colored paper

ABSTRACT

A hand-held printer is disclosed. The hand-held printer includes an image sensor configured to determine a color having plurality of color components associated with a print medium, an image processing module configured to process image data into a plurality of color layers; and a print module configured to receive information related to the plurality of color components from the image sensor and information related to the plurality of color layers from the image processing module. The print module being configured to enhance at least one of the plurality of color layers based on at least one of the corresponding plurality of color components associated with the print medium.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/141,717 which claims the priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) ofU.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/944,656, filed on Jun.18, 2007, the content of both of which are hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Known printers often utilize a mechanically driven carriage to linearlypropel, position and transport a print head to a desired positionadjacent to a print medium. The print medium, in turn, is mechanicallydriven and positioned underneath and/or adjacent to the print head.During a print operation, the print head and the print medium arepositioned relative to each other as an image is laid down.

Other known printers are designed and configured to be portable. Forexample, portable printers often include miniaturized components toreduce the overall weight and size of the device. Regardless of the sizeof these portable printers, the configuration and motion of the printhead and the print medium operate in the same manner as the knownprinters discussed above. Thus, the print head and print medium drivemechanisms limit the size reduction of the printer as well as thematerial that may be used as the print medium.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure generally relates to hand-held printers and moreparticularly to hand propelled printers configured to dispense aprinting substance on a variety of print mediums. It would be desirableto provide a printer having the ability to optimize and adapt a printjob based on the color of the print medium upon which it is to bedispensed and/or deposited. It would further be desirable to provide amobile printer configured to utilize the color of the print medium toenhance the print job. Alternatively, it would be desirable to replacethe color of the print medium within the print job to facilitate easyidentification and/or contrast within the image represented andrecreated by the print job.

In one embodiment, a hand-held printer is disclosed. The hand-heldprinter includes an image sensor configured to determine a color havinga plurality of color components associated with a print medium, an imageprocessing module configured to process image data into a plurality ofcolor layers; and a print module configured to receive informationrelated to the plurality of color components from the image sensor andinformation related to the plurality of color layers from the imageprocessing module. The print module being configured to enhance at leastone of the plurality of color layers based on at least one of thecorresponding plurality of color components associated with the printmedium.

In another embodiment, a method for tuning an image utilizing ahand-held printer is disclosed. The method includes determining a colorhaving a plurality of color components associated with a print medium,processing image data to define a plurality of color layers, andenhancing at least one of the plurality of color layers based on atleast one of the corresponding plurality of color components associatedwith the print medium.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosed hand-held printerare described in, and will be apparent from, the following DetailedDescription and the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a logical schematic of a hand-held printer in accordance withthe teachings disclosed herein;

FIG. 2A is a bottom plan view of the hand-held printer discussed inconjunction with FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged plan view of a nozzle array shown in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a nozzle shown in FIGS.2A and 2B;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the hand-held printer shown in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing an exemplary positioning operation thatmay be performed by the hand-held printer;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram describing an exemplary printing operation thatmay be performed by the hand-held printer;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are enlarged views of exemplary nozzle arraysconstructed in accordance with the teaching and disclosure providedherein;

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the hand-held printer including theexemplary nozzle array shown in FIG. 6A;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart describing an exemplary printing operation thatmay be performed by the hand-held printer; and

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate color layers that may be utilized inconjunction with the printing operation shown in FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments and concepts discussed herein provide for a mobile orhand propelled printer having a compact size and suitable for printingon a wide variety of print mediums. The exemplary mobile or handpropelled printer eliminates the carriage and paper handling mechanismsand may include scanning and position sensors.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic 100 depicting the physical and logicalcomponents of a mobile or hand propelled printer 102. As used herein,the terms printer, printing device, hand-held printer, mobile printerand hand propelled printer are intended to be synonymous andinterchangeable. The printer 102 may include a controller 104 powered bya power supply 106 and in communication with a print head 108 and asensor suite 110. The sensor suite 110, in this exemplary embodiment,may include one or more position or navigation sensors 112 and one ormore optical imaging sensors 114. The controller 104 and the sensorsuite 110 cooperate to facilitate precise and accurate positioning ofthe print head 108 throughout printing and/or scanning operations.Precise positioning allows the printer 102 to reliably produce or printimages and scan or acquire images.

The controller 104 may include a communication interface or module 116coupled to an image processing module 118 and an image informationsource 120. The image processing module 118 may, in turn, becommunicatively coupled to a print module 122 and an image capturemodule 124. The print module 122 and image capture module 124 are, inthis exemplary embodiment, communicatively coupled to a positioningmodule 126.

The image information source 120 may be any type of device capable oftransmitting data related to an image, picture or file to be printed bythe print head 108. The image information source 120 may include ageneral purpose computing device, e.g., a desktop computing device, alaptop computing device, a mobile computing device, a personal digitalassistant, a cellular phone, etc. or it may be a removable storagedevice, e.g., a flash memory data storage device, designed to store datasuch as image data. If for example, the image information source 120 isa removable storage device, e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) storagedevice, the communication interface 116 may include a port, e.g., a USBport, to engage and communicatively receive the storage device. Inanother embodiment, the communication interface 116 may include awireless transceiver to allow for the wireless communication of imagedata between the image information source 120 and the controller 104.Alternatively, the communication interface 116 may facilitate creationof an infrared (IR) communication link, a radio-frequency (RF)communication link or any other known or contemplated communicationsystem, method or medium.

The communication interface 116 may, in other alternate embodiments, beconfigured to communicate with the image information source 120 throughone or more wired and/or wireless networks. The networks may include,but are not limited to, a personal area network (PAN), a local areanetwork (LAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wide area network(WAN), etc. The networks may be established in accordance with anynumber of standards and/or specifications such as, for example, IEEE802.11x (where x indicates a, b, g and n, etc.), 802.16, 802.15.4,Bluetooth, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), code-divisionmultiple access (CDMA), Ethernet, etc.

The image processing module 118 may receive the image data from thecommunication interface 116 and process the received image data tocreate a print job for use within the printing process. Alternatively,the processing of the image data may be performed by the imageinformation source 120 or other device or module and the resulting printjob may be communicated to the communication interface 116. Theprocessed image data and/or print job may, in turn, be provided to theprint module 122. The print module 122 can cache or store the processedimage data or may communicate the data in real-time for printing by theprint head 108.

The positioning module 126 may provide position information to the printmodule 122. The position information may be utilized to calculate therelative position of the print head 108 to a reference point defined orestablished on the print medium or within the image data being printedand/or scanned. The position information may be generated or calculatedby the positioning module 126 based on signals, measurements or otherinformation received from the one or more navigation sensors 112. Thenavigation sensors 112 may, for example, be an optoelectronic sensor, anelectromechanical sensor or one or more inertial sensors configured toprovide location and direction information to the printer 102 and theprint head 108. The location and directional information may, in turn,be utilized by the positioning module 126 to determine the preciselocation of the printer 102 and print head 108 relative to the surfaceof the print medium upon which the image data is to be reproduced. Printmedium, as discussed herein, may be any type of material or medium onwhich a printing substance, e.g., ink, powder, etc., may be deposited.

The position information provided by the navigation sensors 112 may beutilized by the print module 122, via the positioning module 126, tocoordinate the location of the print head 108 to a position within theprocessed image data provided by the image processing module 118. Theprint module 122 may then direct and control the print head 108 todispense and deposit ink on the print medium to represent thecorresponding portion of the processed image data.

The print head 108 may be an inkjet print head having a plurality ofnozzles or primitives (see FIGS. 2A and 2B for details) configured todispense a printing substance, e.g., liquid ink droplets, on a printmedium. The printing substance may be contained in reservoirs orcartridges. The reservoirs or cartridges may contain or store black ink,and/or multiple colors such as cyan ink, magenta ink, yellow ink, andblack ink. Other embodiments may utilize other printing techniques,e.g., toner-based printers such as laser or light-emitting diode (LED)printers, solid ink printers, dye-sublimation printers, inklessprinters, etc.

The image capture module 124 may receive image information from the oneor more optical imaging sensors 114. The optical imaging sensors 114 maybe charge coupled devices (CCDs) configured and arranged to capture aplurality of images and/or indicators representative of the surface ofthe print medium or other scannable medium. The plurality of images maybe processed by the image capture module 124 and reassembled to generatea representation of the print medium or scannable medium. For example,the optical image sensors 114 may capture, among other things, colordata or other indications characteristic or representative of the printmedium. The image capture module 124 may, in turn, receive positioninginformation from the positioning module 126 to facilitate thearrangement and reassembly of the plurality of captured images providedby the optical image sensors 114. In this manner, the printer 102 may beutilized to scan, process, store and duplicate images via thecooperation of the image capture module 124, the positioning module 126and the print module 122.

The image capture module 124 may, in another embodiment, be utilized tocalibrate the positioning module 126. For example, an image captured bythe optical image sensors 114 may be compared to the processed imagedata provided by the image processing module 118 to correct orcompensate for accumulated positioning errors and/or to reorient thepositioning module 126. For example, if the printer 102 is removed fromthe print medium during a printing procedure, the positioning module 126may lose track of the reference point associated with the printingprocedure.

FIG. 2A illustrates a bottom plan view of a printing device 200 whichmay be constructed to include the teachings discussed in conjunctionwith the logical schematic 100 and the mobile or hand propelled printer102. Thus, the components and elements of the printer 102 may beincluded in, or integral to, the printing device 200. For example, theprinting device 200 includes a housing 202 that supports and carries theprint head 108 and the sensor suite 110 (see FIG. 1) including a pair ofnavigation sensors 112 and one or more optical image sensors 114. Thehousing 202 may further include a cover or panel 212. The cover 212 maybe hinged or pivotably attached to the housing 202. The cover 212 mayprotect an interior portion 214 including, for example, components andelements of the printer 102 positioned or accessible within the housing202.

The pair of navigation sensors 112 may be used by the positioning module126 (see FIG. 1) to determine positioning information related to theoptical imaging sensors 114 and/or the print head 108. The housing 202supports the optical imaging sensors 114 and the print head 108 fixedrelative to the pair of navigation sensors 112 such that the imageand/or position information obtained by the navigation sensors 112 maybe precisely correlated to the relative to the optical imaging sensors114 and the print head 108.

The print head 108, in this exemplary embodiment, may be an inkjet printhead having a number of nozzle arrays for different colored inks. Forexample, if the print head 108 is a color (CMYK) print head, it mayinclude a nozzle array 204 for cyan-colored ink (C), a nozzle array 206for magenta-colored ink (M), a nozzle array 208 for yellow-colored ink(Y), and nozzle array 210 for black-colored ink (K). The nozzle arrays204 to 210 of the print head 108 may be arranged adjacent to opticalimaging sensors 114. This configuration allows the optical imagingsensors 114 to capture information about the ink deposited on the printmedium by the print head 108 as it is dispensed. This information may beused for error correction and verification of the processed image datathroughout the dispensing and/or printing processes.

The nozzle arrays 204 to 210 in this exemplary embodiment are arrangedaccording to color. For example, the arrangement and order of the colorsstored within the nozzle arrays 204 to 210 may be based on predetermineddeposition orders and/or amounts necessary to create new colors bydepositing and thereby mixing the colors stored within the nozzle arrays204 to 210. Utilization of different base or constituent colors, e.g.,colors other than CMYK, may require a different nozzle order orarrangement to produce the desired colors, color combinations, etc.

FIG. 2B illustrates an enlarged plan view of the nozzle array 204. Itwill be understood that the nozzle array 204 is shown by way of example,and that the teaching and concepts discussed in connection with thisexemplary nozzle array may be applied to other nozzle arrays and/ornozzle array configurations. The nozzle array 204 includes a pluralityof individual nozzles identified by the reference numerals 204 a to 204g. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the nozzles 204 a to 204 g are staggeredor offset along the length of the nozzle array 204. The stagger allowsfor the manufacture or formation of fluid passages 212 a to 212 g, whichcorrespond to the nozzles 204 a to 204 g, respectively. The fluidpassages 212 a to 212 g may be fluidly coupled to a reservoir (notshown) containing or storing the printing substance or ink to bedispensed through the nozzles 204 a to 204 g.

FIG. 2C illustrates an enlarged cross-sectional view of the exemplarynozzle 204 a. In particular, the nozzle 204 a may be formed within acasing 214 such that the fluid passage 212 a is fluidly coupled to adispensing orifice 216. In operation, the printing substance may beprovided to the nozzle 204 a via the fluid passage 212 a and adispensing chamber 218. A dispensing chamber 218 may be provided foreach of the nozzles 204 a to 204 g and individually identified as 218 ato 218 g, respectively. The printing substance or ink, once delivered tothe dispensing chamber 218, may be retained via capillary action.

The nozzle 204 a may further include a heating element 220 such as, forexample, a resistor. In operation, the heating element 220 creates heatin response to an applied electric current. The heat, in turn, creates abubble 222 by vaporizing the printing substance. As the bubble 222expands, the printing substance within the dispensing chamber 218 may beforced through the dispensing orifice 216 and onto the surface of theprint medium (not shown). When the bubble 222 collapses, a vacuum may becreated. The resulting vacuum pulls or resupplies printing substancefrom the reservoir (not shown) into the dispensing chamber 218 via thefluid passage 212 a. By activating and/or firing individual heatingelements within each of the nozzles 204 a to 204 g which make up theprinting array 204, the print head 103 and print module 122 may dispenseprinting substance on the print medium to create an image.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top plan view of the printing device 200 shown inFIG. 2A. The printing device 200 may include a variety of user controls,buttons, touch screens, etc., based on the functionality designed intoor supported by the controller 104 shown in FIG. 1. For example, theprinting device 200 includes a print control input 302, a scan controlinput 304 and a display 306 communicatively coupled to the controller104. The print control input 302 may provide a signal to the controller104 that can be utilized to initiate/resume a print operation. The scancontrol input 304 may provide a signal to the controller 104 that can beutilized to initiate/resume a scan operation.

The display 306, which may be a passive display, an interactive display,etc., may provide the user with a variety of information. Theinformation may relate to the current operating status of the printingdevice 200 (e.g., printing, ready to print, scanning, ready to scan,receiving print image, transmitting print image, transmitting scanimage, etc.), power of the battery, errors (e.g.,scanning/positioning/printing error, etc.), or instructions (e.g.,“position device over a printed portion of the image for reorientation,”etc.). If the display 306 is an interactive display it may provide acontrol interface in addition to, or as an alternative from, the controlinputs 302 and 304.

FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary positioningoperation 400 that may be performed by the printing device 200 shown inFIG. 2. At block 402, the positioning operation 400 may begin with theinitiation of a scanning or a printing operation. For example, the printcontrol input 302 (see FIG. 3) may provide a signal to the controller104 (see FIG. 1) to initiate a print operation, or the scan controlinput 304 (see FIG. 3) may provide a signal to the controller 104 toinitiate a scan operation.

At block 404, a reference point on the printing medium may beestablished by the positioning module 126. For example, the user may beinstructed via text or graphics provided by the display 306 to activateone of the inputs 302, 304 when the printing device 200 is positioned ina desired starting location. Alternatively, the user may preposition theprinting device 200 in the desired starting location and orientation andthe reference point may be established upon activation of theappropriate input 302, 304.

At block 406, the positioning module 126 may utilize informationprovided by the navigation sensors 112 to determine positioninformation, e.g., translational and/or rotational changes relative tothe reference point, for the printing device 200. The translationalchanges may be determined by tracking incremental changes of thepositions of the navigation sensors along a two-dimensional coordinatesystem, e.g., Δx and Δy. Rotational changes may be determined bytracking incremental changes in the angle of the printing device, e.g.,ΔΘ, with respect to, e.g., the y-axis. These transitional and/orrotational changes may be determined by the positioning module comparingconsecutive navigational images taken by the navigation sensors 112 todetect these movements.

At block 408, the positioning module 126 may further receive theprocessed image data from the image processing module 118. If all orpart of an image has been previously deposited or printed at a givenlocation, the optical image sensors 114 may be utilized to verify theaccuracy of the calculated position location with respect to thereceived processed image data. For example, the optical image sensors114 may sample the deposited image (or image to be scanned) and comparethat sample to a corresponding position within the received processedimage data. This verification process may further note and compensatefor images in which the printing and/or deposition is incomplete.

At block 410, the positioning module 126 may correct for differences anddeviations between the calculated position location and the receivedprocessed image data. For example, with enough information, e.g.,sufficient material deposited in the location scanned by the opticalimage sensors 114, the positioning module 126 may offset and align theposition information to ensure that the two images match. If thepositioning module 126 is unable to determine an appropriate offsetbased on the available information, the optical image sensors 114 may beutilized to gather more information, identify patterns, etc. Theadditional information and/or patterns may, in turn, be utilized by thepositioning module 126 to determine the offset necessary to align thecalculated position location and the received processed image data.Correction and compensation may be performed continually or periodicallybased on, for example, image complexity, available processing power,desired resolution, etc.

At block 412 the positioning operation 400 and positioning calculationsmay be evaluated. If the position information is determined to beaccurate, then at block 414 the positioning operation 400 may becompleted. If the position information is incomplete, inaccurate orotherwise unacceptable, then positioning operation 400 may return toblock 406 and begin the process again.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow diagram illustrating a printing operation 500 thatmay be performed by the printing device 200. At block 502, the printingoperation 500 may begin or be initiated by, for example, a signalprovided by the print control input 302.

At block 504, the print module 122 may receive processed image data fromthe image processing module 118. As previously discussed, the image datamay be received in a raw or unprocessed format from the imageinformation source 120 and processed for printing by the imageprocessing module 118. Alternatively, the image data may be preprocessedby the image information source 120 and communicated to the print module122 as discussed in connection with FIG. 1.

At block 506, the display 306 may indicate that the printing device 200is ready to print the processed image data. The display 306 may alsoprovide a thumbnail representation of the processed image data. Thethumbnail image provided by the display 306 may be utilized to indicatethe status of the printing operation 500. For example, thumbnail imagemay be erased, shaded or otherwise modified as the printing device 200dispenses and prints the processed image data on a print medium.

At block 508, the print module 122 may receive a signal representativeof a print command generated from a user activating the print controlinput 302 in block 516. At block 512, the print module 122 may thendetermine whether to deposit printing substance, e.g., one or morecolors of ink, at the given location on the surface of the print medium.For example, the determination to print or deposit ink may be a functionof the total drop volume to be placed at a given location on the surfaceof the print medium and the drop volume previously deposited at thatlocation. If additional printing or deposition is to occur, then atblock 514 the print module 122 may cause the print head 108 to dispensean appropriate amount of the printing substance as the printing device200 is moved or propelled across the surface of the print medium by theuser. The printing operation 500 may, in turn, return to the block 510to receive additional positioning information in preparation for furtherdeposition.

At block 510, the print module 122 may further receive positioninginformation from the positioning module 126.

If no additional printing or deposition is to occur, then at block 516,the printing operation 500 may determine if the print job has beencompleted. The determination of whether the print job is complete may bea function of the printed volume versus the total print volume.Alternatively, the determination to end the printing operation 500 maybe reached even if the printed volume is less than the total printvolume. For example, the end of the printing operation 500 may occurwhen the printed volume is ninety-five percent (95%) of the total printvolume. If the print job is completed, then at block 518 the printingoperation 500 ends. If the print job is not complete, then the printingoperation 500 may return to the block 510 to receive additionalpositioning information in preparation for further deposition.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate exemplary physical arrangements of the printhead 108 including nozzle arrays configured to optimize hand-heldprinting. For example, during a typical printing operation, the user maypropel or move the printing device 200 in a side to side motion asindicated by the arrow A (see FIG. 2A). The back and forth motion of theprinting device 200, in turn, moves and positions the linear nozzlearrays 204 to 210 to desired positions over the surface of the printmedium. Printing substances, and in particular CMYK inks, which may bedispensed by the printing device 200, as directed by the print module122, are often calibrated, tested and otherwise arranged to create orprovide colors based on their deposition order and/or amounts. Forexample, to create a given color could require that four (4) parts cyan,two (2) part yellow and six (6) parts magenta be deposited in aparticular order and in the specified amounts. Maintaining or providingthe correct deposition order may be difficult given the erratic motionof the printing device 200 and the physical arrangement of the nozzlearrays 204 to 210.

FIG. 6A illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary print head 108 thatincludes a concentric circular nozzle array 600 optimized formultidirectional printing. In particular, the concentric circular nozzlearray 600 may include a nozzle array 604 for cyan-colored ink (C), anozzle array 606 for magenta-colored ink (M), a nozzle array 608 foryellow-colored ink (Y), and nozzle array 610 for black-colored ink (K).In this exemplary embodiment, each of the circular nozzle arrays 604 to610 may be concentric around or equidistant to a reference point 602.Moreover, the reference point 602 may further be the location of theoptical image sensors 114.

In this exemplary embodiment, the configuration and relative position ofthe circular nozzles 604 to 610 allows for multi-color dispensing andprinting in variety or multitude of vectors or directions. For example,instead of dispensing and printing when the printing device 200 ispropelled by the user in a side-to-side manner (see arrow A in FIG. 2A),the user may move the printing device 200 in any direction or vectoralong the surface of the print medium and dispense printing substances.The vector arrows B, C and D indicate three (3) distinct directions inwhich the printing device 200 may be propelled by the user. It will beunderstood that given the circular arrangement of the concentriccircular nozzle array 600 any number of directions or vectors may beutilized. Regardless of the specific vector arrow B, C and D followed bythe printing device 200, it will be noted that the relative position andalignment of the circular nozzle arrays 604 to 610 remain fixed andconstant with respect to each other and the reference point 602.Moreover, as shown by the extended vector B, the leading edge portion(near the label B) and trailing edge portion (near the label B′) of thecircular arrangement of the nozzle array 600 effectively provides fortwo, albeit mirror images of each other, separate arrays which may beutilized to dispense printing substances. The print module 122 may beutilized to control, time and otherwise direct the dispensing ofprinting substances from, for example, the circular nozzle array 606disposed substantially adjacent to the leading edge portion (near thelabel B) and the circular nozzle array 606 disposed substantiallyadjacent to the trailing edge portion (near the label B′) as theprinting device 200 is moved along the printing surface.

FIG. 6B illustrates another embodiment of an exemplary print head 108that includes a polygon nozzle array 600′ optimized for multidirectionalprinting. In particular, the polygon nozzle array 600′ may include anozzle array 604′ for cyan-colored ink (C), a nozzle array 606′ formagenta-colored ink (M), a nozzle array 608′ for yellow-colored ink (Y),and nozzle array 610′ for black-colored ink (K). In this exemplaryembodiment, the polygon nozzle array 606′ may be substantiallyconcentric around or substantially equidistant to a reference point602′. Moreover, the reference point 602′ may further be the location ofthe optical image sensors 114.

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternate bottom plan view of a printing device700 which may be constructed to include the teachings discussed inconjunction with the logical schematic 100 and the mobile or handpropelled printer 102. In particular, the printing device 700 mayinclude the concentric circular nozzle array 600 and an imaging array714 (see the imaging array 114 in FIG. 6A) mounted in the printerhousing 702. In particular, the imaging array 714 may be mounted orpositioned within the center or central portion of the circular nozzlearray 600. The imaging array 714 may be, for example, a line scanner,optical sensors such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or any otherimaging or scanning device.

The housing 702 further includes a locking mechanism 704 disposedsubstantially adjacent to the concentric circular nozzle array 600. Thelocking mechanism 704 may be a spring loaded latch configured toreleasably cooperate with a protective cap or cap (not shown).Alternatively, the locking mechanism 704 may be a friction lock thatutilizes a slip or interference fit with the housing 702 to engage andsecure the cap (not shown).

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary printing method 800that may be implemented by the printing device 200, 700. In thisexemplary embodiment, the printing device 200, 700 may be configured totune or alter the manner in which printing substances are dispensedbased on the characteristics, color, etc. of the print medium. Forexample, the color of the print medium may be utilized to enhance oraugment the color of an image to be printed. For example, if the printmedium is a CMYK color that appears or is utilized in a CMYK image, thecharacteristics of the CMYK image may be altered to utilize the CMYKcolor of the print medium. In this way, the CMYK color of the printmedium may be utilized in place of the corresponding color within theimage, allowing the printing device 200, 700 to conserve printingsubstances.

At block 802, exemplary printing process 800 begins with the printingdevice 200, 700 receiving image data or information from the imageinformation source 120 at the controller 104.

At block 804, the received image data may be processed or evaluated bythe image processing module 118 as shown in FIG. 9A. For example, theimage data may represent a four-color CMYK image 900. The imageprocessing module 118 may process, separate or deconstruct the image 900into individual color layers 902C, 902M, 902Y and 902K. It will beunderstood that the color layers may be RGB layers, black and whitelayers, hue-saturation-brightness layers or any other known descriptivecolor scheme. The individual color layers 902C, 902M, 902Y and 902K, inturn, may be further processed, adjusted and/or combined to recreate theimage 900.

At block 806, the imaging sensors 114 may collect information regardingthe color characteristics of the print medium. For example, the imagingsensors 114 may be utilized to determine the texture, color and porosityof the print medium. The detected color of the printing medium may bebroken down into individual color components corresponding to, forexample, the RGB or CMKY color schemes as discussed above. The imagingsensors 114 may collect a single image to determine the colorcharacteristics of the print medium, or multiple images to determine anaggregate or average color for the print medium.

At block 808, image or images collected by the imaging sensors 114 maybe processed by, for example, the image processing module 118 or printmodule 122, to determine or quantify the individual colorcharacteristics or components detected. Thus, the collected image orimages may be broken down into individual color components such as, forexample, ΔC, ΔM, ΔY, ΔK, in preparation of further processing.

At block 810, a correction type or scheme to be implemented by theprinting process 800 may be determined. Exemplary corrections that maybe implemented include image enhancement 812 and color replacement 814.Image enhancement 812 may include utilizing the color and colorcomponents of the print medium to supplement the color(s) of the imagedata to be recreated by the printing device 200, 700. Color replacement814 may include identifying a color of interest within the image dataand selectively or globally replacing it with a different color tofacilitate visual perception.

At block 816, the image enhancement 812 correction type is selected andan image offset may be determined. In particular, each of the individualcolor layers 902C, 902M, 902Y and 902K may be offset by thecorresponding color components ΔC, ΔM, ΔY, ΔK to compensate, adjustand/or make-use of the color of the print medium. For example, if theprint medium is yellow colored, the color layer 902Y may be ignored andthe remaining color layers 902C, 902M and 902K may cooperate with theyellow print medium to recreate the image 900.

At block 818, the image processing module 114 and/or the print module122 may utilize the color components ΔC, ΔM, ΔY, ΔK in conjunction withthe color layers 902C, 902M, 902Y and 902K to define corrected colorlayers 902C′, 902M′, 902Y′ and 902K′.

At block 820, the print head 108, the print module 122 and/or the imageprocessing module 118 may cooperate to control and dispense the printingsubstance to recreate the corrected color layers 902C′, 902M′, 902Y′ and902K′ on the print medium.

At block 822, the color replacement 814 correction type is selected andan image offset may be determined. In particular, the colors or patternswithin the image 900 or each of the individual color layers 902C, 902M,902Y and 902K may be evaluated to identify a color or pattern orinterest. Alternatively, the printing device 200, 700 may prompt a userto identify the color, feature or pattern within the image 900. A range,for example, a ten percent (10%) variance, may be established to controlthe identification of the color. Thus, the color match or correlationbetween the color of the print medium and the color within the image 900(or combination of the individual color layers 902C, 902M, 902Y and902K) may be controlled or adjusted by varying the range.

At block 824, the identified or correlated color may be replaced byanother, possibly more visually perceptible, color. For example, a colorcreated by the magenta and yellow color layers 902M, 902Y may bereplaced by a cyan (C) color. The replacement may require adjustments tothe color layers 902M, 902Y, 902C. The replacement color may bepre-defined in a table or matrix and stored within the controller 104,or may be defined or selected by the user.

At block 820, as previously discussed, the print head 108, the printmodule 122 and/or the image processing module 118 may cooperate tocontrol and dispense the printing substance to recreate the correctedcolor layers 902C′, 902M′, 902Y′ and 902K′ on the print medium.

It will be understood that the color neutral printing substance or whiteink may be dispensed initially by the printing device 200, 700 toprepare the print medium. For example, if the imaging sensors 114 detectany color (i.e., any non-neutral colors), the printing devices 200, 700may be configured to dispense a base layer of white ink or neutralprinting substances. The base allows the printing device 200, 700 toutilize the uncorrected print job to guide or control the print head 108and/or print module 122.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention andwithout diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intendedthat such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A controller comprising: an interface configuredto: receive background color data corresponding to a background color ofa print medium sensed from an image sensor, and receive digital imagedata that includes information on a plurality of colors included in thedigital image data; wherein the controller is configured to: compare thebackground color data with the digital image data; correlate thebackground color of the print medium with the plurality of colorsincluded in the digital image data based on the comparison, and ignoreat least part of the digital image data based on the correlation inorder to conserve a printing substance.
 2. The controller of claim 1,wherein the background color of the print medium and the plurality ofcolors included in the digital image data are represented in terms of ared-green-blue (RGB) color or a cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) color.3. The controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured tocompare the background color data with the digital image data in orderto determine a relationship that identifies a similarity in colorbetween the background color of the print medium and the plurality ofcolors included in the digital image data.
 4. The controller of claim 3,wherein the controller is configured to ignore at least a part of thedigital image data by utilizing a background color of the print mediumin place of a color included in the digital image data in response todetermining the background color of the print medium is similar to thecolor included in the digital image data.
 5. The controller of claim 1,wherein the controller is configured to ignore at least a part of thedigital image data by utilizing a background color of the print mediumin place of a color included in the digital image data in response todetermining the background color of the print medium is similar to thecolor included in the digital image data.
 6. The controller of claim 1,wherein the plurality of color layers includes at least a red colorlayer, green color layer, or blue color layer.
 7. The controller ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of color layers includes at least a blacklayer or white layer.
 8. The controller of claim 1, wherein theplurality of color layers includes at least a hue, saturation, orbrightness color layer.
 9. The controller of claim 1, wherein thebackground color of the print medium and the plurality of colorsincluded in the digital image data are correlated while the printingoperating is performed.
 10. A controller implemented method formodifying digital image data, comprising: receiving background colordata corresponding to a background color of a print medium sensed froman image sensor; receiving digital image data that includes informationon a plurality of colors included in the digital image data; comparingthe background color data with the digital image data; correlating thebackground color of the print medium with the plurality of colorsincluded in the digital image data based on the comparison, and ignoringat least part of the digital image data based on the correlation inorder to conserve printing substance.
 11. The controller implementedmethod of claim 10, wherein the background color of the print medium andthe plurality of colors included in the digital image data arerepresented in terms of a red-green-blue (RGB) color or acyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) color.
 12. The controller implementedmethod of claim 10, wherein comparing the background color data with thedigital image data comprises determining a relationship that identifiesa similarity in color between the background color of the print mediumand the plurality of colors included in the digital image data.
 13. Thecontroller implemented method of claim 12, wherein ignoring the digitalimage data comprises utilizing a background color of the print medium inplace of a color included in the digital image data in response todetermining the background color of the print medium is similar to thecolor included in the digital image data.
 14. The controller implementedmethod of claim 10, wherein the plurality of color layers includes atleast a red color layer, green color layer, black layer, white layer orblue color layer.
 15. The controller implemented method of claim 10,wherein the plurality of color layers includes at least a hue,saturation, or brightness color layer.
 16. A non-transitory computerreadable storage medium having controller executable instructions to:receive background color data corresponding to a background color of aprint medium sensed from an image sensor; receive digital image datathat includes information on a plurality of colors included in thedigital image data; compare the background color data with the digitalimage data; correlate the background color of the print medium with theplurality of colors included in the digital image data based on thecomparison, and ignore at least part of the digital image data based onthe correlation in order to conserve printing substance.